Richard
Senior Member
Whats has been your best out of state public land bow hunt?
Have you hunted any other public land in the Midwest to compare?
A buddy and I are either going to IL or IN pre-rut public. Just trying to decide which one.
Michigan and had better experiences in Illinois, though I will be hunting in both of them again this year.
Is it mainly just less pressure in IL compared to MI? Or the anything else like the number of deer you see?
Iowa zone 9. Headed back this year.
I see tons of deer in both states but Illinois has a better "attitude" when it comes to big bucks. Michigan is a shoot whatever has calcium on their head frame of mind state, though they are trying to change that, it's still tough for a buck to reach maturity if it has any form of bone on it's head. Alot of that comes from the fact that everyones car has been mangled more than once by hitting a deer so their love for them is not as strong as it is in other states. In Illinois I see as many deer but I see deer with bigger racks in Illinois, that's what keeps me coming back. I thnk public land hunting is different up there because people either have their own land or know someone with land that they can hunt on, when I am in Illinois it is either out of staters or people from Chicago that I usually meet in the woods up there. In Michigan I don't hardly see anyone but there are a ton of public land places to hunt up there in Michigan as well.
That makes sense. Do you hunt in the northern or southern part of IL?
Generally 2 so every 3rd year. It's in the NE corner, very undulating terrain. Lots of bluffs, draws, it's beautiful. And last time I was there I saw more 170 plus deer between hunting and riding in 1 week than I did in 5 one week trips to west central IllinoisHow many points does it normally take to draw in that zone?
Generally 2 so every 3rd year. It's in the NE corner, very undulating terrain. Lots of bluffs, draws, it's beautiful. And last time I was there I saw more 170 plus deer between hunting and riding in 1 week than I did in 5 one week trips to west central Illinois